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Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Most Americans Say It Is a Good Time to Buy a Home

We have been making two major points for several months. If you are selling a house, you must do it now AND if you are buying one, you must also do it now.This sounds crazy – but it is true.

PRICE is the most important thing to a seller. With prices projected to fall through the first half of 2011, if you want to sell, do it now. The alternative might be to wait over a year just for prices to recover to current values.
The second point revolves around the fact that buyers are more concerned about COST (price AND interest rate). Fannie Mae, the National Association of Realtors, the Mortgage Bankers Association and the PMI Company are all projecting interest rates to rise this year. If you want to buy, your best time to purchase could be right now.

We have had people question us on the second point. We truly believe it is a good time to buy however. And a new survey says that the majority of Americans agree with us. Gallup just released a poll showing that 67% of Americans think this is a good time to purchase a home. The interesting thing is that the same poll showed that more people believed that prices would decrease (27%) than increase (21%). Most people realize that this is a opportune time to purchase even if prices continue to soften.
Even the Gallup people weighed in on the subject:

Overall, there is good reason for most Americans to think now is a good time to buy a house. Interest rates remain near historic lows. Home prices are down sharply, providing many incredible buys.

Bottom Line

There may be people advising you to use caution before buying a home right now. That is probably good advice. However, there is a difference between caution and fear. Fear could paralyze you and prevent you from making a good decision. Caution will make sure you make the right decision. And remember: if you do think it makes sense to buy your home today, 2 out of 3 people agree with you.